I screen my home phone in case you get the new and enthusiastic sales person trying to sell you a carpet cleaning service and …i accidently picked up a call this afternoon from an estate agent who was trying to get me to sell my home! The nerve. I hate blackberries … i have tried not looked at mine until later in the day … and even if you have informed everyone about your week’s absence … they still asking questions and I try so hard to ignore the ‘not so important people’. and one boss asked if i was coming in today!? thank goodness, i read the email 9 hours later … i guess it is a no! back to the books for a few more hours ,
So far I have managed to avoid the “Crackberry.” It’s only a matter of time before they force one on me though.
Its the Sirens in Illiad and the Odyssey. It’s calling you until you get sucked in and destroyed.
I’ve had multiple salesmen come to my door today and try to sell me a new roof (we had a hail storm over the weekend). I’m going to punch the next one in the face.
In regards to phones and people knocking on my door - i feel no obligation to answer either, if i have the time/inclination to answer either i will. i have no idea where the custom came from that someone else gets to decide when they will interrupt me.
I was talking with a professor in grad school and his phone started ringing. just ringing and ringing. I asked him “aren’t you going to answer it.” He said, “no, they can leave a message; there is no reason to believe that the call coming in is more important than the conversation I’m having with you right now” I asked, “What if it’s your wife, calling with an emergency.” He said, “She knows if it’s an emergency, she can call the department secretary, whose job it is to answer the phone, and ask them to get me.” I realized that was true… and now I don’t feel so bad about not answering a phone if I am in the middle of something important.
But what if its an emergency? do you also have a secretary who will always answer?
caller ID and voicemail.
Texting works in todays day and age.
bchadwick. Kudos. I don’t know how many times I’m talking to someone (sometimes juniors) who pick up the phone in the middle of a work conversation with me. Just plain rude. Not to mention stupid, considering my influence on whether they get their next promotion.
I get the same 4 calls every evening between 5:30pm-8:30pm: 602 area code (arizona) blocked call unlisted call 800 number which I back-searched to be a christian charity organization Never once picked up any of them but I’m considering loading up some porn on my computer to play when I answer the d@mn calls so that they’ll stop interrupting me during practice tests.
My philosophy is that you have the initiative to come talk face to face, you are putting in more effort than somone calling on the phone. I never answer the phone if I am talking to someone. The only reason I could see bending the rule is my wife was pregnant and due to go into labor or some other medical issue I knew about ahead of time.
Oooh, or better yet, have it as a ringtone!